Show Notes

This episode is all The Postal
Service all the
time. And half Los Angeles (the last half of three halves of Los
Angeles—see Episode 5 for the
first two halves). For this show, Arwen talked to the founding members
of The Postal Service, Jimmy Tamborello in LA and Ben Gibbard in
Seattle. Not accounted for in this episode is Jenny
Lewis, who is also a
member in good standing (if anyone is) of The Postal Service.

The Postal Service

The Postal Service by Autumn de Wilde

The band The Postal Service started out as Ben and Jimmy collaborating
long distance on writing songs, Jimmy in LA and Ben in Seattle (same as
you hear in the show). Since they sent music back and forth in the
mail, they named their group “The Postal Service.” Get it? (This was
in the early 2000s. Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet.)

Their album Give
Up
was released on Sub Pop in 2003, and, as noted in the show, is one of
the label’s better selling offerings, eventually reaching platinum
status,
meaning over one million units have been sold. Sub Pop released a 10th
anniversary deluxe version of Give
Up
in… wait for it… 2013. This version deluxely combines the original
album with live stuff, remixes, covers of The Postal Service songs by
The Shins and Iron &
Wine, and other types of
things I’m not qualified to talk about.

Give Up DeLUXE packaging

In 2013 the band united (I won’t say reunited) to play some shows, maybe
because most of those million people that bought their record and love
their music never got a chance to see them in 2003. (They barely did
any touring back when Give Up was released.)

The Postal Service, “Nothing Better” from the Everything Will Change
movie.

I’m not sure, but I think that might be a real goat, and I do not
think that looks safe.

That is all I know about Dntel. Let’s talk about Jenny Lewis for a
second.

Jenny Lewis

Jenny Lewis, from her site

Inconspicuously absent from this episode is Jenny
Lewis, member of The Postal Service, and
notably a very successful and prolific musician in her own right. She
was in a little band called Rilo
Kiley, has put out at least
three records under her own name, and is currently having a band
entitled Nice As Fuck.